Family
by Hyper Kid
Summary: Gabriel is back from the dead, and a little less than impressed by what's been done to his baby brother while he was gone. Spoilers for seasons 5-7, slight hints of Gabriel/Broken!Cas


HK: Written for my sweet Sammy from Twitter in exchange for her changing a music video ending for me so I can watch at least one without having to see Gabriel DIE. Here you go Sammypants, now it's your turn. :)

Disclaimer: If I owned Supernatural I sure as shit wouldn't put the lot of you through the crap they do. For one thing I've heard of something called "continuity".

WARNINGS! Gabriel, obscenities, maybe hints of Casbriel ;)

XXXX

He's alive. His chest still burns, he can all but feel the blade still in his heart, but he's alive. Not quite what he expected. Slowly he forces his eyes open. His brow furrows. He's not… son of a bitch. He's still lying in the floor of the bloody hotel, covered in dust and cobwebs.

They didn't even bother to MOVE him?!

He'd have thought Lucifer cared more than to just leave him to rot… and even if his brother didn't he's going to KILL the Winchesters.

Pulling himself to his feet with muscles that burn from lack of use Gabriel looks around. His eyes are caught for a moment on the image of his wings burned out against the floor. He hadn't imagined it then. He had died… a moment of panic filled him and he spun a few times, trying to see his own back.

Then his brain caught up and he tried flexing them and sighed loudly with relief as he felt his lovely wings spread nice and wide. After a moment he hummed thoughtfully and snapped his fingers. A cherry sucker obligingly popped into existence and he stuck it into his mouth with a chuckle.

"I'm back, baby."

XXX

Number one on Gabriel's to do list probably should have been to see if the apocalypse was still going on. Nope. Others might have said his priorities were a little screwed but the first thing he did after coming back to life was snap to the first place he thought the Winchesters would be: Singer Salvage.

The house was burned to the ground.

Gabriel stood staring at the ashes for a long time, wondering what the hell had happened while he was gone. Lucifer hadn't showed up to rekill his ass yet, and it didn't look quite like the apocalypse.. more importantly he couldn't sense any other angels on Earth.

Wait… tell a lie. There was one.

A wide grin crossed Gabriel's face as he felt that familiar little grace. What do you know. Castiel was still around. And where Cas was… with a very trickster-esque smirk on his face Gabriel snapped his fingers, teleporting to where he could feel his brother's grace.

XXX

Castiel is sitting quietly in a field when Gabriel finds him. Not an unusual pastime for him, from the minimal amount he could remember about his littlest brother from his time in Heaven. And he's changed his clothes. Gabriel grinned down at his little brother, folding his arms.

"Hey bro. You ditched the suit but not the hobo coat? Not your best choice there." He was kinda expecting Cas to glare at him, tell him to fuck off or whatever the dick-in-butt-angel equivalent was. He was not expecting Castiel to grab his arm, tugging him to the ground beside him.

"Gabriel have you ever taken the time to watch the grass grow?" No surprise that his errant brother is alive. Gabriel was a little taken aback, giving his brother an odd look.

"Only when I was really stoned… you on something little brother?" That wouldn't be like Cas. At least, it wouldn't be like the solemn, humorless angel he seemed to have become. The thoughtful little head tilt is at least.

"The earth," he eventually decided, beaming at Gabriel like he had just solved the hardest problem in the world. Something about that smile, that open and carefree smile makes something in Gabriel break, just the tiniest little bit. He smiled back anyway, patting the younger angel on the arm.

"Well done bro. Hey, what say we go find Sam and Dean and tell them I'm not toast." And have a few choice words with them about what the fuck had happened while he was away.

XXX

Castiel is happy to take his resurrected brother to the Winchesters, but he hasn't said a word since they arrived. To be fair, this might be because Gabriel has spent almost the entire time screaming.

"WHAT THE SWEET CUNTING FUCK DID YOU KNUCKLEHEADS DO TO MY BROTHER?!" Because no matter how little he may have known or liked Castiel, the young angel was still family damn it and ever since he had seen him again Gabriel had known there was something off.

Dean didn't take kindly to being screamed at by an angel he had thought was dead.

The yelling match had escalated from there, neither one of them willing to back down. Castiel was shrinking further and further into a corner, and if Gabriel hadn't taken a moment to make sure he couldn't leave he would doubtless have flown away a long time ago.

Gabriel was currently a little too irate to notice. "You just LEAVE him like this?! Letting him walk around on his own?! Are you fucking INSANE?!" Dean seems to think that attitude is a bit rich coming from him, family drop out extraordinaire, and maybe he's right. Not that Gabriel gives a damn. Abruptly Castiel stepped forward, meeting his brother's eyes.

"Gabriel… do you believe me to be incompetent?" For a second it's almost like he's the old Cas, powerful and capable. And to Dean's very great surprise, Gabriel's eyes softened, enraged gold shifting back to green. He looks pained, which is not something either Winchester wants to think about right now.

"You can feel it, can't you Cas?" he asked softly, taking a step closer to his brother. It's like Sam and Dean aren't even there. Whatever made Castiel meet his brother's eyes didn't last long and he looked away again, frowning at the floor.

"I… I do not wish to fight anymore Gabriel." It's barely more than a whisper, but it's enough that Gabriel doesn't bother walking the rest of the way across the room, simply teleporting to where he can wrap his arms around his brother.

He knows what that's like… to want out of the fighting so badly you'll do damn near anything. And it cuts deep into him to see his baby brother feeling the same thing. If there was a shadow of doubt that he loved Castiel, it was gone now as he holds his baby bro tight.

It's the nicest thing either Winchester has ever seen the angel do, and is somehow the most terrifying.

After a second, Castiel's arms slowly came up to return the hug, his eyes filling with tears. "I am sorry brother… I did not understand."

Sam and Dean exchanged a look, wondering what the fuck was going on. Gabriel gave his brother a half-hearted glare.

"Shut up." He reached up and brushed away the tears that threatened to fall before turning his head to glare over his shoulder at Dean. "He's done. Castiel has hurt enough for you ass clowns; you're not getting him involved in anything else."

This new, family oriented version of Gabriel is a surprise to both humans, given that the last time they met Gabriel had beat the shit out of Castiel. Still clearly remembering this, Dean steps forward to glare at the archangel.

"Since when was this any of your damn business?"

"Since I died for your sorry ass!" Gabriel shot back. Castiel made a small sound and instantly all of Gabriel's attention is fixed on his brother again. They're staring deep into each other's eyes like they can see into the other's thoughts.

Actually that seems to be exactly what they're doing as after a while (during which Dean tries to talk several times only to find his voice has been replaced by duck noises) Gabriel gives a heavy sigh, breaking the hug and turning to face the humans.

He doesn't stop touching Castiel, one hand going to hold one of Cas', and the younger angel looks happier about that than he should. "Alright fine. I'll help you chuckleheads. Happy?"

Dean quacks angrily for a while and a small smile quirk's Gabe's lip. "Sorry what was that? Not quite getting your message there Deano."

Sam clapped his hand across his brother's mouth. Having an archangel on their side would make a real difference… if they could trust him.

"How do we know we can trust you? You've done nothing but screw us in the past." … And he really shouldn't have made an innuendo that easy for Gabriel, and for a second Sam thought he wasn't gonna be able to let it go. Luckily for all Gabe just grinned back.

"And die for you. Thanks for leaving me on the floor by the way. Totally the way I wanted to be laid out. What the hell happened with Luce anyway?" Admittedly now that he isn't in a smiting mood, Gabriel is curious about why the world hasn't ended without him.

For a second it doesn't look like anyone is going to accept his subject change, but then Bobby Singer flickers into existence, glaring at him.

"Turns out we aren't as hopeless as you'd like to think." Even dead, the old hunter hadn't lost his snark. Gabriel had to admire that and he smirked, tapping a finger on his chin.

"Looking a little pale there Singer. Let me help with that." A simple snap later Bobby was standing before them staring down at his own hands, as physical and alive as it was possible to be.

All three humans jumped, and within seconds both Winchesters were hesitantly poking Bobby to see that he was, in fact, alive. Gabriel watched in amusement until he felt Castiel squeeze his hand. His baby brother was looking down at him with a soft smile.

"Thank you, Gabriel…" His deep voice was so soft and sincere that Gabe couldn't do anything but smile back.

"Yeah well… I already died for these idiots. It'd be kinda stupid to hold back now." Not that he'd ever let them forget that particular sacrifice. Especially since Dean didn't seem to think it was good enough.

XXX

Even with Gabriel officially back on Team Free Will, life wasn't all fun and games. Dean was still openly hostile towards the archangel and Sam wasn't much better. If it hadn't been for Castiel, Gabe would have left the humans to it and disappeared a long time ago.

But his baby brother worried about the Winchesters, and since there wasn't a chance in Hell of Gabe letting him out of his sight he may as well lend a hand.

This had the added bonus that, however reluctantly, Sam and Dean stopped bothering Castiel, sending him disappointed looks or barbed comments about how much his help would be appreciated.

Without that guilt weighing him down, the young angel seemed happier than ever. Gabriel couldn't deny him anything, and the genuine pleasure on Castiel's face brought a sincere smile to Gabriel's as well.

Gradually Gabe even got to hear the story of what happened to the end of the world, from the time of his death to the present and he had to admit he was impressed.

The moron brothers had done much better than he had expected.

They had actually managed to get Lucifer and Michael in the pit.

It hurt a little inside that it had ever come to this, but since the alternative was them slaughtering each other Gabriel could live with it, hiding the pain… from everyone except Castiel. With unusual tact, the angel didn't say a word.

But whenever Gabriel was feeling down, or something reminded him of his brothers… Castiel was there.

A simple touch, a hand on his arm, on one memorable and ill-advised occasion a flying tackle… Castiel was there to pull him out of his own head.

So Gabriel returned the favor, looking after Cas whenever his brother's mind too obviously wandered off, keeping him grounded in the here and now. And when Dean Winchester dared to suggest that he use his "mojo" to fix whatever was wrong with Castiel it had taken a solid three days of begging from Sam and Cas combined to persuade Gabe to remove the tattoo of ASSHOLE from his forehead.

As far as Gabriel was concerned, Castiel wasn't broken. He wasn't the same, he might never be the same again, but damn it he wasn't broken. He was just happy.

And from that moment on, keeping Cas happy was all that mattered to Gabriel. He had no other family left. Naturally, Castiel picked up on all his sad thoughts.

XXX

"Gabriel?" Castiel was frowning up at his brother from the couch Gabriel had sat him on while the archangel ranted. Gabriel ranted a lot, and occasionally while he did it he got agitated enough for his grace to do… interesting things. It was a lot safer to be out of the line of fire. Gabriel cut himself off mid rant for his brother though.

"Yeah?" He knew Cas hated his rants, and tried to keep them short just for that purpose but… he was an expressive person. Castiel tilted his head up at his brother. It seemed safe enough to approach. In the blink of an eye he was standing in front of Gabriel, a hand on his shoulder.

"You are aware that I will not leave you?" Which, given the context (Gabriel had been ranting about how he had no good drinking buddies ever since Lucifer killed Odin), was more than a little odd. Of course by now Gabriel was good at following his little brother's erratic train of thought.

And it seemed Castiel was good at following his… the archangel deflated a little, giving his brother a sad smile.

"I know Castiel. Sorry you're stuck with me." Gabriel knew how taxing his company was… he'd have to have noticed by now, with how often he ended up alone. Castiel shook his head, hand moving to cup Gabriel's cheek as a soft smile crossed his lips.

"I am not stuck with you Gabriel. I am pleased to spend more time with you." And he genuinely meant it. Gabriel could hear it in his voice and it made him pause, meeting his brother' eyes.

"Thank you little brother…" he sounded so soft, so warm and vulnerable that Castiel didn't hesitate for a second before pulling his brother into a tight hug.

"I will stay with you forever Gabriel." It took several seconds but gradually Gabriel's arms came up, clinging to his baby brother like a life line.

"And I with you Castiel."

XXXX

HK: There. What did you think? Love it, hate it, want a little more but next time with porn? Ask nicely and ye shall receive ;)


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